If you thought the owners of Ford’s Ranger line-up of bakkies weren’t nearly smug enough, the company’s newly announced Ford Ranger hybrid plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV), set to release sometime in 2025, might just change your mind on that.
Not much of Ford’s new EV is known yet, aside from the name and a few other details. Of course, the name does speak to the bakkie’s hybrid capabilities from the offset. We also know it’s packing a 2.3l Ford EcoBoost turbo petrol engine, coupled with a battery that’ll net 45km of range off a single charge. That’s “without using a drop of fuel or producing tailpipe emissions, helping customers save at the pump.”
And after the recent petrol price predictions from the CEF, it looks like we’ll need it.
A generator in your car?
It’s got all the usual stuff you’d expect from the Ranger brand. That means four-wheel-drive functionality, multiple drive modes, and all the regular driver safety and driver-assist features. It’ll feature the same 3,500kg targeted maximum braked towing capacity on the Ranger 4 too.
But the coolest feature – by far – isn’t four-wheel-drive or its battery. It’s actually the inclusion of Pro Power Onboard (PPO) – Ford’s name for vehicle-to-load power that you’d find on the US’ favourite car, the Ford F-150.
Slightly silly name aside, Pro Power Onboard is essentially just a generator on the go. The Ranger’s cabin and cargo bed will be outfitted with power outlets, which Ford reckons will be best used to power “tools and appliances on a worksite or remote campsite…” That’s a different story for South Africans, who could potentially use the Ranger’s PPO to power their appliances during load shedding.
At the time of writing, Ford hasn’t revealed how much energy you’ll be pulling from the PPO feature, and whether it’ll be worthy of South Africa’s standards. We looked at the F-150’s PPO capabilities, which sell with four different power output options available. The base model starts at 2kw, stretching up to the most powerful 9.6kw option that Ford claims will power a “residential construction job site for three days on a single charge.”
Ranger South African launch on the cards
That may not translate directly to the Ranger line-up, but it does give us an idea of what to expect. Ford says it will reveal more about the new model’s PPO closer to the vehicle’s launch date, expected to hit sometime in 2025, with production likely kicking off in late 2024.
Ford has yet to confirm a South African launch for its new PHEV. But that doesn’t mean it won’t come here. According to a report from drive.com.au, these new Rangers will be assembled in South Africa’s own Ford Ranger factory found in Pretoria. Fingers crossed, huh?